


Kansas

by CaitlinRose94



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Kara doesn't know what the heck is going on, Lena is the emo princess of my heart, SuperCorp, everyone is sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 04:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11120328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaitlinRose94/pseuds/CaitlinRose94
Summary: Lena has been scooped up and sent to an elite private boarding school by Lillian to escape the media's ever watchful eye as Lex's court hearing unfolds. She's there to do one thing and one thing only - study business courses, keep her head down, graduate early and join the company.Her carefully crafted existence comes under threat when transfer student (and newly-human) Kara Danvers arrives on-campus and is assigned as her new roommate.Lena's world gets flipped on its head, and everybody begins to question what they thought they already knew.





	Kansas

**Author's Note:**

> References to canon but twisted to suit the story.

Lena regards the apple in front of her with utmost contempt. The deep crimson of the skin reminds her too strongly of her mother’s pursed lips coated in her Royal Red lipstick. Lena thinks of the way they hardly part when she speaks, as though the physical act of stretching into a smile were not possible for them.

Everything about this school seems manufactured and soulless, right down to the too-perfect fruit. Lena had gotten into some… trouble at her previous school. Trouble, according to her mother, was a pair of brown eyes and short red hair in a skirt. _’Your entanglement is something of an embarrassment, Lena. When you are older and more mature you will find yourself a befitting partner, and they will not take the form of a farmer’s daughter.’_

Lena averts her eyes from the apple to take in the room around her. Glossy surfaces reflect too much light, making the entire space seem somewhat clinical. She supposes that’s appropriate, considering every student in the room is dissecting her.

The dining hall is eerily quiet, and Lena doesn’t need to wonder why. Every news station in National City has been covering her brother’s slow decent into madness. And since Lex had disappeared behind the wrought iron gates of the Luthor mansion, their eye has been turned to her. Constant speculation like _why_ has Lillian Luthor sent her daughter to an interstate boarding school for her senior year that requires a fingerprint scan just to get in the front door? _Why_ had she been absent from her elder brother’s first trial date? And perhaps worst of all, _when_ will Lena Luthor follow in her family’s xenophobic footsteps?

Lena sighs and rolls the apple between her palms, watching the reflected overhead light shine across the curved surface. The thought of wasting her life behind a glass desk makes her feel sick. Air. She needs air.

The loud scrape of her chair as she pushes it back echoes across the hall. Every pair of eyes that dare to look follows her movement as she strides to the exit. She’s used to this, but still has to swallow an uncomfortable lump in her throat.

 

It’s taken a decent chunk of her morning to stride through this school’s enormous grounds, and Lena has found herself feeling disheartened by its immaculate stature. The one treat she’d been allotted as a child was the ability to tend to her very own garden at the Luthor Mansion. She felt connected to the earth and vines and flowers. There was something so wild about them – something unpredictable. No matter how you try to shape a plant, it finds a way to surprise you. In her sadder years, she envied them.

The entire school lies situated within the clearing of thick woods – just visible beyond its high jutted surrounding wall. She’s wondering how hard it would be to climb out when a voice rings out from behind her.

‘Don’t bother. I’ve tried.’ Lena turns to find a sleek blonde girl hovering behind her. Her tall sock has been pulled down to reveal a deep purple bruise. ‘It’s harder than it looks.’

Lena raises an eyebrow. How long has this girl been following her? And more importantly, what does she want?

‘Can I help you in some way?’ Lena’s cold tone is met with a grin.

‘Maybe,’ she extends her hand, ‘Leslie. Leslie Willis.’ 

Lena takes it in hers and grips the way her mother taught her to. ‘Let me guess, as in Willis Electrics?’

‘The very same.’ Leslie picks the dirt from beneath her nails. ‘No point dancing around who you are, Miss Luthor.’

Lena’s jaw tenses, ‘No dancing indeed – what do you want?’

The laugh Leslie lets out can only be described as a howl. ‘It’s true what they say about you lot, guarded as the gates of hell! Or this place,’ she gestures around them. ‘I saw you sneak out of the hall and I was curious. What could Lena Luthor possibly be doing all the way out here? Not sneaking kisses with a certain farm girl I’d hope? Is she going to lasso you over the boundary walls?’

Lena lets Leslie’s cackle bounce around her. A lifetime of criticism has left her with skin like steel. 

‘And what are you doing out here, looking for job prospects after being fired from your own radio show?’

Leslie presses her lips together into an uncomfortable smile. ‘Looks like everyone has done their research.’

‘Guess so.’ Lena turns on her heel and heads back toward her dorm.

Leslie speeds up to keep pace with her. ‘Oh brighten up would you? This is foreplay in our world.’

She was stupid to think that this prison masquerading as a school would be housing anything other than the snide children of National City’s wealthiest elite. Lena feels a sickening drop in her stomach at the prospect of her mother hoping she’s going to meet that ‘befitting partner’ here. Leslie’s family ticks all the boxes: rich, entitled, and supporters of the anti-alien movement. She wonders if Lillian already made a call to Warren Willis, who in turn told his daughter to pursue her. Both of them are trapped like rats in their family’s labs.

‘Daddy told you to make friends with a Luthor?’ She asks without bothering to turn around.

Leslie’s _‘Yep’_ pops out of her mouth like bubble gum, ‘Your mommy is worried you won’t play nice with the other kids.’

Lena gives an imperceptible shake of her head. She doesn’t even have control of her own friendship circle – not that she’s ever really had one.

Leslie eyes the movement with intrigue, ‘And what do you think?’

‘I don’t.’

‘I suppose neither of us is afforded the luxury.’ The tinge of sadness evaporates as quickly as it came. ‘Well come on, someone has to show your mopey butt around.’ Leslie grabs Lena’s hand and yanks her forward. ‘I’ll show you where to get smokes from.’

/

The first month of school passes by her like a beige blur. Every face in this place has bled together, and Lena is struggling to distinguish even the small group of friends she has made. Or rather – the friends Lillian has chosen for her. Leslie Willis has introduced her to a tight circle of equally unpleasant peers – Ben Krull (whose mother owns the same nuclear plant that poisoned a small town’s entire water system), John Corban (from a family almost as infamous as the Luthors – due to their political dalliances), and Siobhan Smythe (her parents have built their fortune on blood diamonds). Every single one of them are shells crammed full of their family’s ideologies. She often thinks of them as a group of puppets, parroting out words to each other that they’ve been taught by overbearing parents.

Despite herself, Lena is as much a contributor as any of them. Lillian has called her once for a two-minute conversation about meeting with Warren Willis, Annabelle Krull, the Corbans, and the Smythes for lunch. It was her way of letting her know she’s being monitored. An unnecessary reminder of a glaring reality she faces daily. Her role in the circle is easy to play into, and she finds herself becoming more and more numb as the weeks drag on.

They travel everywhere together, and attend no classes without at least one other member present (this couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, and Lena suspects it’s related to the new tech lab the school had built after an ‘anonymous donation’). She can see it from the window of her finance class, and wishes she could be a nameless student in there too.

Even though this school is jam-packed full of rich people’s children, they part like waves whenever the Fearsome Five (a charming nickname chosen by Leslie) walk down the hallway. Lena hates it – the intimidation in the eyes of everyone she passes by. But she knows this is how she claws back control; by playing into the role the world has assigned her.

For years she’s been accessing Luthor Corp’s restricted files, learning from the technology they’ve been building and making quiet plans to alter it – to make it more world-friendly. A toe out of line would have resulted in total restriction, so Lena learnt to work carefully. Occasionally Lex would sneak her down into the laboratories so that she could interact directly with the prototypes. That Lex was long gone now.

Lena bit back the whimper threatening to crawl out of her throat and blinked back tears. 

‘You right, Luthor?’ Corban throws back a shot of whiskey and wipes his mouth. ‘Thought your family could only cry crocodile tears.’

Leslie snatches the bottle of alcohol from his hand. ‘You’re one to talk. I saw you dabbing at your eyes when Morris Metallo lost the election.’

Corban’s ears turn bright red. ‘That is not true. I had something in my eye.’

‘Yes, yes, we’ve all read your statement.’ Leslie sends Lena a look she’s having difficulty scrutinising.

The five of them are sitting in Corban and Ben’s dorm room. Their pairing actually wasn’t a ruse set in place by their parents, but had certainly served both families well. Which is probably why they’ve stayed roommates for the past three years.

Leslie is throwing dirty laundry at Corban and chanting ‘Metallo’ when a light rapping at the door causes them all to look up. Siobhan rises first, rolling her eyes at the rest of the group before opening up the door slightly. Half of Professor M’orzz is visible, arms folded tightly over her chest. 

Ben speaks first. ‘Good evening Miss M’orzz.’ He slaps on a grin Lena’s seen him wear a hundred times on magazine covers. ‘Anything I can help you with this evening?’

She looks exasperated. ‘No thank you, Ben. You’ve received a noise complaint – the third for this month – and so I’ve come to see what you are up to.’

Ben looks around with fake shock strewn across his face. ‘I don’t know what to tell you, Miss. We’re just having a study session.’

Corban rises from the floor, snatches the bottle back from Leslie, and walks into the professor’s line of vision. He raises it to his lips and takes a sip. ‘Anything else, Miss?’

Professor M’orzz presses her lips together in what Lena can only assume is an attempt to suppress what she’s really wanting to say. ‘Of course not,’ the words come out incredibly forced, ‘just remember you _all_ need to return to your dorms by 6 o’clock.’ She punctuates the word by swinging the door open, and her eyes grow wide as they fall on Lena. She doesn’t miss the sharp intake of breath. 

Professor M’orzz turns on her heel and leaves with a curt ‘Goodnight’ thrown over her shoulder. Corban bursts into laughter. ‘Bloody hell Luthor, your family truly does strike fear into the hearts of men.’ Leslie shoots him a filthy look. ‘Men, women, _whatever_.’

The pair of them argue, but Lena isn’t paying attention. She’s seen that look before, and she knows what it means. She’s surprised to find that when she glances up, Siobhan’s eyes flick away.

/

October brings a pleasant wash of oranges and deep reds to the school’s grounds. Lena’s placed her desk by the window that overlooks the East garden – it’s not like she has a roommate to argue with over space. The trees have started shedding. Crisp leaves lilt gently to the ground, and she watches the grounds keepers pass through each hour to rake them up and remove them.

She wonders how deeply Lillian had to reach into her pocket to secure her a private room. Even Leslie and Siobhan both have roommates, although they scarcely make an appearance. She can’t blame them.

In fact, she’s the only student on the entire campus void of a roommate. She knows Lillian has overcorrected in her attempt to keep Lena free of any new ‘distractions’ at this school, and the action has left her feeling terribly alienated.

There is one positive, however, and that is the avoidance of prying eyes. Lena opens the sleek laptop Leslie managed to secure for her (the means through which she’d rather not know) and begins typing into the search box. Her mother has access to all of the information stored in her own computer, so procuring this was a necessary evil. _‘Need a way to surf farmer girl porn without Mommy knowing?’_ Leslie had quipped. Lena hadn’t dignified it with a response.

The idea had struck her when Siobhan was chattering away about how she’d anonymously leaked information about her own family to the press so they would have to fly out of town for a while. That was the same week she’d thrown the party that earned her the tabloid title of Silver Banshee – having allowed millions of dollars worth of jewels to be stolen from the family vault and screaming in a drug-induced haze about how the death of her father was imminent. Siobhan had done a three-month stint in a psych ward after that, and her father’s security team still considered her a threat to his life. That’s how she’d ended up here.

Really, her story had been the least interesting during the group’s discussion of what lead them to Regina Rozz’s School for the Gifted (or Fort Rozz, as the group liked to call it). Lena had snorted heartily when Lillian told her the name of her new school. Her comment of _‘When did it become a gift to have money?’_ resulted in her being banished to her room for several days.

Leslie, after being fired from her own radio show, had broken into the control room and re-wired their system to blast When I Think About You I Touch Myself on an endless loop. She’d added in the voice of her father’s secretary dedicating the song to him, which is how her mother found out about the affair. Neither parent wanted to care for her in the divorce, so her father shipped her off here. Corban had since christened her with the nickname ‘Livewire’ and even Lena occasionally found herself referring to Leslie with it. 

Corban had talked for hours about his misadventures at various other schools – resulting in the retirement of four teachers, and another leaving the country entirely. Apparently Fort Rozz was the only school that would accept him. From Lena’s understanding, Corban was snobbish and rude but had not stepped out of line during his enrolment here. Her eyes had washed over the scar on his right index finger and she wondered whether his father had left it there.

Ben’s story tumbled out of him like a burst water bank. His mother had hated his girlfriend Nina, whom she had suspected of being an alien, and decided to put her theory to the test one night. She staged a power-station meltdown after coaxing Nina into meeting her there with the promise of amicably discussing her future with their family. By the time Ben arrived on the scene, Nina’s body had already been carted off for immediate cremation, and Annabelle Krull was holding a glass of red wine in her soot-stained hand. Ben attempted to go to the authorities, but there wasn’t a detective in the state operating out from under his mother’s thumb. Lena was shocked to hear the admiration for his mother still prevalent in his words, and learned that over time, he had been convinced Nina was an alien spy. Reactron Industries suffered a very short stint beneath the media’s magnifying glass before it all became old news. Annabelle had sent him away from the place that held their memories, and time had done the rest. His lips curved into an empty smile when he’d finished talking, and Lena wondered if there was any semblance of self behind his eyes.

So Leslie had gotten her the laptop, and Siobhan had showed her how to cloak herself, and she’d signed up for online advanced science classes. Her mother had strictly prohibited her from studying any scientific fields, because _Lex_ was the golden boy and it was her job to stand behind him and crunch numbers.

Every time she logs in with her alias student details a shot of adrenaline rattles down her spine. Lillian’s omniscient presence swirls around her like a ghost and she wishes she could shake it, wishes she could make her own friends, wishes she wasn’t constantly surrounded by the crushing weight of her last name. But that’s just not her reality.

Her phone buzzes loudly inside of her desk drawer. She usually doesn’t check it during study, but it’s early for her to be receiving a text from anyone. Curiousity wins.

 **Leslie**  
_6.02am, October 3rd_  
Hey Lena Loser, u up? :p

Lena squints at the words on her screen. Leslie isn’t one for pleasantries. Her phone buzzes again.

 **Leslie**  
_6.04am, October 3rd_  
Cos I have a favour to ask

She closes her eyes and lets the sigh drain out of her chest. This is how the friendship circle works. One-sided favours don’t exist, and she knew she was due for the laptop any day now.

Her nails tap against the phone screen as she types.

 **Lena**  
_6.09am, October 3rd_  
Like I ever sleep. What do you need?

/

Leslie’s request to meet at ‘their garden’ had resulted in a heavy eye roll from Lena. But she knew exactly where to go.

The dew has soaked the bottom half of her suede shoes. She tightens the blue scarf around her neck against the morning chill, and can’t even imagine what use Leslie has for her this early on a Saturday.

‘Lena.’ Somehow she always manages to come up from behind her. ‘How are you on this crisp Autumn day?’

‘Cold.’ She can feel how pink her nose is getting. ‘What’s so important that you couldn’t say it over text?’

‘Oh, Lena, Lena, Lena.’ She shakes her head in that condescending way she loves. ‘Don’t you know it’s never safe to discuss cunning plans on parent-bought electronics?’

‘Care to let me in on this plan of yours?’

Leslie’s grin spreads from ear to ear – this is never a good sign. ‘It’s _our_ plan, because you’re going to think up the second half.’

Lena inhales deeply and the cool air burns her nostrils. Why couldn’t her mother have let her study in isolation? These friendships are starting to feel akin to an arranged marriage. ‘Okay. What’s the first half?’

‘The first half is you breaking me out of here tonight.’

Lena snorts so hard she chokes a little. ‘Oh, is that all, is it?’

‘Obviously not idiot I told you there was a part two.’

‘How exactly am I supposed to do that? I can’t even get myself out of here.’

‘I dunno. I came up with the first half, you do the execution.’ 

Leslie pulls out a scrunched up piece of paper from her back pocket. Lena hesitates for a moment before taking it. She waits for an explanation, and when nothing comes, slowly opens and smooths the page. It’s a concept design for a fingerprint scanner. ‘How did you -’

‘Do you really need to ask?’

Despite herself, she smiles. Leslie certainly has a knack for breaking into locked rooms.

‘Why does _Livewire_ need me to do anything with this? Aren’t you the electronics genius?’

Leslie’s cheeks are pink from the cold. She raises a manicured eyebrow and taps to the very corner of the page. Lena’s grin slides from her face when she recognises the small Luthor Corp symbol there.

‘Of course,’ she says coldly, ‘undoubtedly my mother’s selfless donation to the school.’

Leslie shrugs. ‘We all come from maniacs – including Ben, he just doesn’t realise it.’ She gestures over the various symbols and writings. ‘Can your Luthor brain decipher any of this?’

Lena runs her eyes over the illustration before her. This might actually be doable. ‘I’ll need to get my hands on one. It’s going to take me a few hours to alter it.’

Leslie’s tongue licks over her front teeth. ‘Do you want to be the thief, or the distraction?’

 

It took all of three seconds to decide who was doing what. Obviously she isn’t going to slip under anybody’s radar, and Leslie is the practised criminal after all. This is how Lena Luthor finds herself striding toward a manned entrance in a power suit that spent the better half of the semester pushed to the back of her closet. 

The plan is simple: be a Luthor. Lena adjusts the watch on her left wrist – a nervous habit she’d developed in her childhood, and a terrible poker tell. She recognises the security guard as the same man who greeted herself and her mother upon her own entry. Hopefully he remembers her.

She catches sight of Leslie slinking behind the shrubs lining a cobblestone path. All Lena has to do is lure him away from the security booth containing the scanner – no sweat. A hand signal indicates that it’s time, and Lena does her best Lillian impression by raising her chin high.

‘Excuse me?’ He doesn’t hear her. Lena swallows. It’s important that her mother isn’t contacted about her peculiar behaviour; she needs to remain calm. This is the perfect time to stretch the acting muscles she hasn’t used since her family’s last banquet. ‘You!’ She calls sharply.

This catches his attention. He turns on the spot and the stern look on his face washes away at the sight of her. ‘Miss Luthor. I didn’t hear – my sincerest apologies. How can I help?’ He throws his hand up in a sort of half-salute, and then looks mortified at the gesture.

She purses her lips. ‘I’m lost.’

The man straightens his collar. ‘Of course – I don’t believe students are meant to venture this close to the boundary wall.’

Lena arches an eyebrow. ‘Are you questioning my adherence to school policy?’

The colour drains from his face. ‘Of course not, Miss! I meant no offense.’ Lena watches Leslie inch closer and closer to the booth. “Let me just duck back inside and grab my map.’ Leslie shoots her a wide-eyed look. Lena panics.

‘Uh – no!’ He turns to face her, confused. Lena calms herself and leans casually against a tree. ‘By which I mean…’ she flicks her eyes to Leslie but is met only with a shrug, ‘maps bore me.’

Leslie rolls her eyes at the display, but the guard has her rapt attention. ‘Okay not a problem. I can point you in the right direction. Where were you off to?’

‘Oh,’ she watches Leslie practically tip toe to the booth doorway, ‘the finance building.’

He scratches his head. ‘Well, that’s in the East block. You’re in the North block. You’ll just need to - ’

An alarm rings out from the small security office. Leslie practically dives behind it a moment before the guard spins to look. ‘Apologies, Miss Luthor. I’ll need to attend to that.’

He shuffles away quickly, and Lena can hear a few words said over the receiving speaker. _‘Visitor… classified… now.’_ She watches him scoop up the very device they were plotting to steal and press his pudgy thumb against it. A green light flashes to life, and the high steel gate glides smoothly until it opens wide enough for one person to squeeze through. It’s a girl, Lena notices, and she must be about the same age as herself. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a tight bun, and she keeps edging her glasses back up her nose as she speaks. The guard taps against the device’s screen before turning it to face the newcomer. She seems to have a problem with that because they sound to be having a hushed argument. He slaps the device into her hand and gestures emphatically to it.

Lena turns to find Leslie’s eyes. _’What now?’_ she mouths. Leslie shrugs. She can’t supress the childish groan that escapes her throat. Lena stills, and as expected, turns to see the security guard staring at her.

‘Apologies again Miss, one moment!’ She offers him a curt nod as he returns back to the argument. 

The girl is rubbing her eyes, seemingly frustrated, and lowers her glasses back down. Lena overhears a sharp ‘Fine!’ before she gives in and presses her thumb against the screen. The device beeps twice before lighting up green. She offers him a smug look as the gates recede further open.

Interesting. Looks like she either needs to program her own fingerprint in as a dummy personnel, or trick the device into thinking she’s one of the guards on active duty. She’ll need timesheets - another job for Leslie.

Of course this is all futile without the actual device in her hands. She watches the gates peel back to reveal a single raggedy pick-up truck. The girl seems to be collecting her own bags from the tray – not an assistant in sight. As she piles her suitcases on top of one another inside the gate, the guard jogs back over to her. The device is strapped to his belt.

‘I am very sorry for the interruption, Miss. As I was saying - ’

_‘Leslie Willis?_

Lena turns to see Leslie stand bolt upright, arms glued to her sides. She’s sure she’s never seen her look frightened of anything.

‘And Miss Luthor,’ the voice continues. 

The Dean’s heels crunch against the few stray leaves that have managed to avoid the grounds keeper’s rakes. Lena arches an eyebrow. She’d not had to interview to be accepted here, so this is her first encounter with Cat Grant. One word comes to mind: formidable.

‘What an _interesting_ coincidence that I should find you both stretching your legs so far from your respective dorms.’

Lena’s palms start to sweat. The _last_ thing she needs is the Dean of the school to be calling her mother directly. The next school she attends will probably be in Iceland.

The guard speaks up first. ‘Not to worry Ms Grant, I was just directing this lovely young woman home.’

Cat clicks her tongue. ‘Maybe you should close that gate first, or do you want every humdrum hillbilly in town to wander through?’

He almost drops the device in his haste to remove it from his belt. Lena purses her lips at the sight of those horrid doors sliding back into place.

Cat turns on her heel and beckons herself and Leslie to follow with one raised finger. Lena’s heart is thundering against her rib cage so hard it’s threatening to snap under the pressure, but manages to keep her demeanour calm. Cat pauses mid-step to turn and face the guard. Lena follows her gaze, and realises that the blonde girl is watching her. ‘Carl,’ she says softly, ‘Miss Danvers?’

‘Of course, of course!’ He rushes back to the newcomer, and Lena can only imagine what awaits her.

/

Leslie is waiting for her when she leaves Cat Grant’s office. ‘What a bitch, huh?’ Lena ignores her and strides right past. ‘Hey, hey, hey!’ She jogs after her and throws an arm around her shoulder. ‘Why so glum sugar plum?’

Lena feels it. The rage that comes attached to the Luthor genes. It courses through her body like poison, threatening to explode out and bring everything around her crumbling to the ground in a rain of hellfire and death. She wants to scream, cry, or curl up into a ball on the floor. The conflicting emotions are making her eyes burn. She swallows everything down into the pit of her stomach.

‘It wasn’t too bad. I’ll receive a ‘loss of privileges’. If I’m not confined to a closet for six hours it’s still better than home.’

Leslie snorts at the dark humour. Sometimes Lena wonders if this friendship ever crosses over into anything genuine.

‘So the plan is still afoot.’

Of course it doesn’t. Lena inhales sharply. ‘I just missed suspension by the skin of my teeth. I don’t feel particularly inclined to do anything rash that’s going to earn me a phone call home.’

Leslie stops walking. It takes Lena a moment to notice, and when she stops and turns to face her she’s met with an expression she’s not seen before.

‘I don’t care if you don’t feel _particularly inclined_ to do this. I don’t care if I have to hang you up by your ankles until you agree. We have to do this, and you have to help me.’

Leslie looks positively manic. Lena’s seen that look before – staring back at her through the blue eyes of her older brother.

‘I can’t. If my mother found out I’d -’

‘And what if she found out about your secret science classes?’ Sparks erupt in her chest, and she fights hard to keep the anxiety off her face. Leslie stalks toward her like she’s prey. ‘What if she found out what naughty little Lena had been doing in the Luthor databases, I think Mommy would be pretty mad.’

Lena clenches her hand into a tight fist. ‘I told you that in confidence.’

Leslie tilts her head, ‘Well that was your first mistake, baby. Your second was thinking I wouldn’t use it to get what I want.’

Lena’s heart sinks to her stomach. There had been times – rare and fleeting times – where she thought Leslie _got her_. Thought they were occasionally operating outside of their parents’ wishes, that despite everything, there were a few glimmering slivers of hope that maybe this could be a real friendship. What a god damn fool she is.

She wills herself to remain calm, to not let her know she’s gotten under her skin. ‘Okay,’ is all she can manage to say with an even tone.

Leslie snaps back to her practiced self so abruptly it’s alarming. ‘Great. Girls night!’ She grabs Lena by the hand and drags her in the direction of her own dorm.

 

This plan has been considerably more successful than the last. All they had to do was time their heist with the security shift. The school employs eight security guards after 6pm – overkill if you ask Lena – and they all have a distinct route to walk every evening. And every evening between 8.42 and 8.51 the Northern wall is a blind spot. All they had to do was time it right.

Lena had rummaged for all of a minute to find the scanner stuffed into a drawer. Fort Rozz doesn’t get many visitors, and she wonders how much her mother forked out to create a device so rarely utilised.

The screen casts a dull blue tone over the office, which is good – not bright enough to be noticed. Lena lays her tools out against the desk, and begins to loosen the screws keeping the back plate in place.

Leslie’s harsh whisper of _‘Hurry up!’_ does nothing to calm her nerves. 

She’d told Leslie, during her fourth shot, that she needed more time to do this. Re-programming this thing’s entire system could take hours – maybe even an entire day. There was no way –

Lena’s hands still as the plate comes off. This device has already been tampered with. She retrieves a small torch from her kit and shines it on the mess of thin wires inside. It looks as though someone has melted a few of them.

Who on this entire campus would be capable of something like this? Other than herself of course. Is this some elaborate prank Leslie is pulling on her? Was someone expecting them? Is there –

‘Come on, Luthor! Jesus how long does it take.’ Lena quickly encloses the backing before Leslie sidles up beside her. ‘Have you even started yet?’

Lena calmly threads the screws back into place. ‘It’s done.’

Leslie blinks. ‘It is?’

She flips the device over and holds it out, ‘Yes.’

She raises an eyebrow. ‘Then scan yourself.’

Lena sucks in a long breath, as though holding it will help trick the device somehow, and places her index finger against the screen.

A small light flickers on and off several times. Leslie isn’t breathing. The next guard will round the corner to the North wall in less than three minutes. This is it. This is the last stupid mistake she will ever make. The last night of freedom she will ever have. Leslie’s hand twitches toward her own, but falls back to her side.

A green light. Leslie exhales so sharply it startles her. ‘Well how about that?’ She snatches the device from Lena’s hand and edges toward the gate. 

‘You’re taking it with you?’

‘How else will I get back in, idiot?’

Leslie squeezes through as the gate begins sliding back into place.

Lena can’t help herself, ‘Leslie! Where are you going?’

She’s met with a toothy grin. ‘It’s a secret.’ The gate closes fully, leaving Lena to stare after it. She plays with the watch on her wrist. It’s almost 9 o’clock, and her dorm will be patrolled in fifteen minutes. There’s no time to analyse this right now.

/

After several awfully close encounters, Lena makes her way back to her own dorm. Soft light is seeping out from the gap beneath the door and she curses herself for leaving the light on. If a professor had come past it would have been an instant knock on the door.

She reaches out to turn the handle when it suddenly rotates on its own. The door is pulled open from the other side.

‘Hi! You must be Lena?’

Standing before her is the same blonde girl from earlier, but the bun is down, and the collared button-up has been replaced by a soft yellow sweater with ‘Feed Me’ written on it.

Lena blinks in response.

‘I’m Kara.’

Something weird is going on here. Did this girl not see the clearly labelled _Luthor_ plaque beside this door? Lena glances over to make sure it’s still there, and to her dismay, notices a freshly printed _Danvers_ beneath it.

Lena leans to look beyond Kara’s shoulder. What was previously a meditation space is now apparently home to her new roommate’s bed – which is already in disarray. And it looks like a chunk of the frame has been broken off.

‘Were they out of new bedheads?’

Kara looks back and then blushes deeply, the pink flush starting at her clavicle and going all the way to her ears. ‘Something like that.’

The panic is thundering inside of her chest, but she carefully steps around Kara and slides her kit beneath her bed. 

‘So you’re, what, my roommate now?’

‘Guess so.’ Kara strides back to her bed and continues to unpack what could only be described as the dullest wardrobe Lena’s ever seen. How can one person own so many plaid tops?

Lena observes her from the corner of her eye. She’s definitely not seen her around before, and she doesn’t look like the kind of National City snobs she’s become accustomed to. There’s something very peculiar about her, and there’s an accent she can’t place…

‘Kara, was it?’

‘Mm-hm.’

‘Where are you from?’

Kara stills. ‘Why?’

Lena frowns. Usually when she asks somebody a question – they answer.

‘Because I’d like to know.’

She places her hands on her hips. ‘Why?’

‘Because I’m curious.’

‘And your curiousity counts for more than my privacy?’

She can’t stop the scoff that comes out. ‘Excuse me for wanting to know who’s going to be sharing my living quarters for the next year.’

‘You already know. It’s me. Kara.’ She returns to her sloppy task of folding clothes.

Did this girl crawl out of a hole in the ground? Does she not know who she is?

Lena stops. Breathes. She hates having those kinds of thoughts – hates letting herself think being a Luthor means anybody owes her anything. 

But she’s no stranger to false company, and isn’t yet convinced this girl is a real student and not a tabloid writer in disguise.

She waits long enough until she feels some of the tension in the air ease off before speaking again. ‘So did you choose this room?’

Kara hangs her last collared shirt before responding. ‘Why would I ask for this room?’

‘Because of who lives in it, obviously.’

‘All right, what’s going on here? Are you one of the Jonas brothers’ long lost siblings or something? The Jonas sister?’

Lena blinks, ‘Pardon?’

She throws her hands up into the air. ‘Well unless you’re a Jonas sister I don’t know why you think I’d specifically ask to board with you.’

If this is a ruse, it’s a strange one at that. ‘I’m a Luthor.’ The name crawls out of her throat like a sickness. 

‘What’s that, a band?’ Kara tosses her empty bag into the cupboard and dusts her hands off. ‘Sorry, I don’t really listen to –’ she waves her palm in Lena’s direction ‘– goth music.’

Lena looks down at herself. She grabs the lapel of her coat, ‘This is Armani.’

Kara glances at the coat and seems confused. ‘Oh, okay. I guess that’s nice that you named it. Anyway I was assigned this room,’ Kara says simply, ignoring the look on Lena’s face, ‘and the Dean was positively giddy about it. She’s great, huh? Mean but like, in a cool way.’

Lena sucks in a breath and laughs. Right. _This_ is her punishment.

‘I mean it wasn’t really a joke, but that’s okay.’ She pulls her rumpled cover back and slides beneath it. Lena doesn’t move, unsure of what to do next. ‘So you sleep in Armani?’

Lena slides the coat off and hangs it carefully in her closet. What does she do? She can’t leave the room; she’d be caught in the hallway. And the dorm round is six minutes late – very unusual for Professor Henshaw – so he must be close by. She’d better get into her eveningwear quick or he’ll know with one look that she’s been out.

Kara is staring at her. ‘Do you mind?’ Lena asks incredulously.

‘Oh – sorry!’ Kara leaps from the bed so quickly that Lena’s eyes have trouble following the movement – this girl must have consumed every Red Bull in National City – and is unbuttoning Lena’s blouse before she knows what’s happening.

 _‘Do you mind?_ ’ She snatches the fabric from her hands. Kara looks confused.

‘I thought you needed help?’

‘With unbuttoning a shirt? I’m eighteen!’

‘And that’s old?’

Lena grits her teeth. ‘Listen, you stay over there, and face the wall. _The wall,_ ’ she repeats when Kara is still looking at her, ‘while I get changed. I need to be out of these clothes before…’

‘Before the professor comes around?’ Kara finishes her sentence. ‘He’s already been.’

Lena spins around, her untucked blouse whipping with the movement, and gapes. ‘He’s been?’ Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh –

‘Yeah, I told him you were in the bathroom.’ Kara grins. ‘Diarrhoea.’

The panic evaporates from her chest, and anger settles in its place. ‘Well that’s just excellent, isn’t it? Now everyone in the school can think I was up at all hours of the night on the toilet.’

‘Better than them knowing you were out past curfew.’ Kara’s phone buzzes. ‘And just because you’re in a local goth band doesn’t mean everyone cares what you do. Hi Alex.’

Lena stares in disbelief at the creature before her. Somehow Cat Grant managed to find the most loathsome and irritating human in the world to be her roommate. 

‘Yes, I’m being careful. I haven’t. _I haven’t._ Okay maybe one bed frame. Anyway I can’t really talk right now, I have company.’ Lena can’t hear the response on the receiver, but it makes Kara’s ears tinge pink. ‘Alex! It hasn’t even been a day.’ She turns to glance at Lena. ‘Yeah, a Luthor. Well that’s what I asked but apparently not. All right. Love you too. Tell Eliza I miss her. Bye.’

Lena taps her foot impatiently; ‘You know there’s no phone calls after six.’

Kara climbs back into the bed and faces away from her. ‘No night strolls either, but that didn’t stop you.’ She sighs. ‘Night.’

She clicks the light off, leaving Lena to stare at the dark outline of her body. She gets into her own bed and hits the pillow a few times for good measure.

Is this really just a ploy to irritate her, or did Cat Grant bend to her mother’s will and give her a spy as a roommate? If she’s just an ordinary person with nothing to hide, why is she so secretive? Why doesn’t she know how to interact with a semblance of grace and manners? Why is she here?

Lena opens her mouth to ask the questions swirling in her brain, but is interrupted by a snore so severe it makes the curtains rustle.

Hell is real. And its name is Kara Danvers.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to send me questions or requests @weakidiot.tumblr. I'm not very active on my own blog but will happily answer asks (and maybe even write a oneshot or two) ;-)


End file.
